The NZ Media Council upholds complaint about spreading ‘misinformation’.

The complaint arises from a news article in Massive Magazine, titled Misinformation and flaky promises from Massey students’ association published on May 13, 2024.   

Massey University Students’ Association General President Hennessey Wilson complained the article accused him of spreading misinformation, which he denied.  

The article reported comments by Mr Wilson and other student representatives at a student forum. It said students left the meeting with misinformation about possible cuts to the College of Creative Arts, the planned size of the university's new Singapore campus and the extent of staff cuts last year at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The article also reported statements from university administrators rebutting comments made at the forum.  

In upholding the complaint the Media Council said Mr Wilson and the other student representatives were within their rights to comment on university matters as they saw them. The Council expressed its support for student publications and said Massive could not be faulted for looking to balance the article by getting the university’s comment on points made at the forum.  

However, Massive went further than just reporting statements from both sides which would have left readers to draw their own conclusions. Instead, Massive Magazine expressed an opinion that students had been misinformed by association representatives.  That may have been acceptable in a clearly labelled opinion piece, but this article was tagged as a news story.  

The full NZ Media Council ruling can be found here.